How to Win Fantasy Football with Social Media

It’s finally draft day and you’re crammed into your friends living room or office boardroom with the same printed player ranking as nine others sitting across from you. Being part of a fantasy league is like a full time job — those who participate in fantasy sports leagues and pools often do so with a certain addiction. Winning your league requires research, strategic risk and luck.

With training camp and preseason winding down as your draft day approaches, rosters are in flux, which means you need to stay up to date with all things fantasy football in real time. You all know the guy who proudly drafts someone only to find after that said player was cut or blew out his knee in the last preseason game — don’t be him (or her). Not to worry because I’m here to tell you a secret about how to win fantasy football that your league mates are not taking advantage of and that secret is: social media.

Whether you’ve already done your draft or you’re just about to do it, with a few social media tricks, you can tilt the odds in your favor on the road to fantasy league supremacy, and the bragging rights that go along with. Keep in mind though, that all these social media tips can be applicable to any kind of fantasy league.

5 Tips On How to Win Fantasy Football with Social Media

Tip #1: Create Twitter lists to follow writers

Mass following a bunch of spammy writers gets clumsy and clogs up your Twitter Feed. A curated Twitter list of writers from different websites allows you to scan for the instant advice or sleeper picks you crave. This is a much leaner approach than spending time reading lengthy articles that dance around weaving metaphors before delivering any useful information. #BonusTip: Add one beat writer from each team you have a fantasy player on. These writers travel with the teams and have the closest access to players for injury, lineup and roster updates.

Tip #2: Use a social media monitoring tool for effective listening

Leading up to fantasy football drafts everyone is listening to podcasts by Bill Simmons. But, without too much searching, you can find writers making a nice living as fantasy analysts and sharing their findings on social media. With the help of social media monitoring tools like Hootsuite you can set up search streams to organize the Twitter Lists you created after reading tip #1, monitor relevant hashtags, keywords and phrases. By doing this you’ll have the social media content to help you win your fantasy football league at the tip of your fingertips in an organized manner.

Tip #3: Learn who the sleeper picks are on reddit

Reddit is a social networking site that allows people to form discussions around certain topics. One of the topics that are great when you’re trying to learn how to win your fantasy football league is around who the sleeper picks are for this season. Even John Paulsen, who was named Fantasy Pros most accurate fantasy football expert in 2010, has taken to reddit to talk about fantasy football. Simply check out this reddit thread to learn more, to win more.

Tip #4: Join Google+ communities

You might not be using your Google+ account but, if you want to know how to win your fantasy football league this year, join a Fantasy Football League Google+ Community. This will allow you to learn from your peers and fantasy football expers. Some communities provide insight on who to pick, and some communities provide you the opportunity to participate in other people’s fantasy football leagues.

Tip #5: Participate in a Twitter Chat

Fantasy experts are also receptive to answering questions on Twitter — some even do weekly Twitter chats (scheduled and sporadic) where they answer tons of questions in one go. Don’t hesitate to fire off a quick question using the hashtag #fantasyfootball and gain new perspective on your lineup. The gap is closing, but you can still gain advantage over your fantasy foes using social media.

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